outdoors and a flash

this might be a stupid question, but i see it all the time and i dont know much about flash.

lets say i am at an outdoor event, with great sun. and lets assume that ALL my shots will be outside, meaning, no tents or shady areas.

would i even want to think about using a flash?

wouldn't there be enough sunlight to not need a flash?

lets assume that i am using a lens that allows me to shoot as open as 1.4.

thanks.

I would say that it would depend on what you were taking a photo of, and how you would like the photo to come out in the end. You eliminate shadows when you are photographing using the flash when you are outside, but sometimes the photo comes out looking too generic (for my taste, at least)..

StefaniaPhotography wrote in post #5886648
I would say that it would depend on what you were taking a photo of, and how you would like the photo to come out in the end. You eliminate shadows when you are photographing using the flash when you are outside, but sometimes the photo comes out looking too generic (for my taste, at least)..

ok, i am shooting a birthday party and it is a nice sunny day outside....

the flash would eliminate the shadows, however, that could be good if you are taking a pic of a group of people.

now, if you are taking a picture of a flower or a building, etc...you might want some natural light effect in your shot, i can agree with that.

so i guess, just for regular outdoor shots of family and kids playing, etc...

What's your idea of great sun? My idea of great sunlight is early morning or late evening...mid day sun is terrible.

When shooting in mid day sunlight, I would certainly use flash or a reflector...otherwise, you get people who look like raccoons.

Big Mike wrote in post #5886705
What's your idea of great sun? My idea of great sunlight is early morning or late evening...mid day sun is terrible.

When shooting in mid day sunlight, I would certainly use flash or a reflector...otherwise, you get people who look like raccoons.

ok

great sun, meaning, you have enough light to shoot at a quick shutter speed to freeze kids playing in the yard or snapping a quick shot of a group...

if i take my camera to a friends or relatives house to shoot a party, i dont plan on brining reflectors or anything like that...just my camera, a good charge on the battery, decent lens and possibly a flash.

again, this isnt for professional work. would i be better off just using a point and shoot?

I wish I had the first version of this pic (no flash). Harsh shadows on faces from direct full sun off our high right sides.

Used the flash on this one and it did a great job at tempering the shadows.

Edit: Used just the popup flash.

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jseivert wrote in post #5886809
I wish I had the first version of this pic (no flash). Harsh shadows on faces from direct full sun off our high right sides.

Used the flash on this one and it did a great job at tempering the shadows.

thank you for posting the pic, this is exactly what i wanted to know.

when you shoot this type of shot...assuming you dont have much time, do you just put the camera on auto?

Full auto about .00001% of the time. Normally I do "P" mode and make any quick AV/Tv changes for a particular shot. Other tough situations call for "M"

One great thing about the camera is that it will adjust the amount of flash as necessary depending on the EV.

Expose for the ambient, and set on your flash in ETTL mode and the FEC between -1 and -2 depending on the situation. Oh yeah, make sure you don't have a diffusuer on your flash outside.

Light coming from up above onto people causes shadows on the face, especially the eye sockets. Fill flash can be used to brighten the eyes and mitigate shadows. It's almost a must for decent sunny day photos of people. A good assistant with a reflector can help too.

Titus213 wrote in post #5887228
Light coming from up above onto people causes shadows on the face, especially the eye sockets. Fill flash can be used to brighten the eyes and mitigate shadows. It's almost a must for decent sunny day photos of people. A good assistant with a reflector can help too.

understandable.

then i will invest in a flash...seems that it will help eliminate unwanted shadows.

thanks.

Harsh light = high contrast which means the border where the shadow meets the light is well defined and sharp. Areas of high contrast is what draws attention to the viewer. High contrast harsh borders like this rarely look good on people's faces. And eyes in full shadow where the rest of the face is lit well rarely looks good either. And keep in mind that what you see with your eye is going to look worse to the camera because the camera will capture a narrower dynamic range of light and make it look worse. So you can either knock down the light with some sort of scrim or shade, or lighten up the shadows with a flash or reflector, or both. Another thing the flash will do for you is add a nice catchlight in the subjects eyes. Witout the catchlight the subjects just don't look as good.

tomdlgns wrote in post #5887426
understandable.

then i will invest in a flash...seems that it will help eliminate unwanted shadows.

thanks.

You'll find an external flash to be a great investment. Bouncing it off a ceiling is the most common use and makes a world of difference to the final image.